Shreveport and New Orleans Face Budget Dilemmas: Raise Prices and Face Voter Blowback or Kick the Can Down the Road?

You're listening to American Ground Radio with Stephen Parr and Louis R. Avallone. This is the full show for November 26, 2025. New Orleans is trying something… unconventional. With the police department hemorrhaging officers and non-emergency response times stretching into hours, the city has outsourced traffic-accident calls to a private company called On Scene Services. No badge, no gun, no arrest powers — just an SUV that shows up in under 15 minutes to document your fender-bender while NOPD focuses on violent crime. Is this smart, efficient innovation, or proof the city has given up on doing the basic functions only government can do?Sure, outsourcing saves money — sometimes hundreds of dollars per call — yet it also leaves one big question unanswered: if no officer ever arrives, who actually determines fault? And what does that mean for insurance claims, citations, and accountability? We break down the numbers, the consequences, and the uncomfortable truth behind New Orleans’ experiment in privatizing police work — a solution that solves one problem while exposing another the city still hasn’t fixed.Plus, we cover the Top 3 Things You Need to Know. The President of Southern University is leaving his post by the end of the year.The Louisiana State Supreme Court has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the social media platform TikTok.Parking rates in New Orleans could soon be going up.Get Prodovite Plus from Victory Nutrition International for 20% off. Go to vni.life/agr and use the promo code AGR20.Shreveport just got a financial wake-up call — and not the kind you can hit “snooze” on. Moody’s has officially downgraded the city’s bond rating. It’s still technically investment-grade, but it’s the lowest rung on that ladder, and the message behind it is unmistakable: Shreveport has become a riskier borrower.Why? Moody’s spells it out — decades of deferred maintenance, a billion-dollar federal consent decree, low reserves, and water rates that haven’t kept pace with reality. For years, mayors and councils kicked the can down the road, refused to raise rates, and now the bill has come due. And here’s the twist: the very thing voters hate — higher water fees — is exactly what Moody’s says the city needed to do to avoid this downgrade. We break down what the downgrade means for taxpayers, why borrowing money just got more expensive, and why Mayor Arsenault was right about reserves and rate increases even when it wasn’t politically popular. Plus: the enormous pressure of a consent decree that may now be impossible to meet — and the case for bringing Washington back to the table.We get into the legendary turducken — the chicken stuffed inside the duck stuffed inside the turkey — the culinary hat-trick John Madden made famous. But here’s what most folks don’t know: the turducken isn’t a TV gimmick, it’s a Louisiana original, born in Gretna at the Gourmet Butcher Block. A true Cajun creation that went national. So before the NFL broadcasters start carving into one tomorrow, remember: that triple-bird masterpiece started right here at home.New Orleans just got a $125 million lifeline from the Louisiana Bond Commission — but the rescue came with far less oversight than state law allows. We unpack who sat on that commission (spoiler: an all-Republican slate of state leaders), why the state chose a bookkeeper instead of a full fiscal administrator, and what that decision means for accountability — and politics.We trace the roots of the crisis: decades of deferred maintenance, a billion-dollar consent decree over the water system, shrinking reserves, and politically toxic calls to raise water rates. Moody’s downgrade of Shreveport (and its warning signs) hangs over the conversation, as does the hard choice every city faces: borrow more at higher cost, or raise fees now and face voter blowback.Get TrimROX from Victory Nutrition International for 20% off. Go to vni.life/agr and use the promo code AGR20.Louisiana just landed a surprising national spotlight: former state Surgeon General and congressman Dr. Ralph Abraham has been appointed second-in-command at the CDC. We dig into how a rural doctor, farmer, veterinarian, pilot, and one-time gubernatorial hopeful ended up in one of the most scrutinized health leadership roles in the country — and why some in the media immediately framed the story around the label “vaccine skeptic.” We break down what Abraham has actually said about vaccines, how his views differ from public-health orthodoxy, and why critics and supporters are reading the same statements in entirely different ways.Plus, we have a little fun guessing the top 10 high schools in Louisiana. We dig into why some well-regarded schools don’t make the rankings, how U.S. News measures academic performance, and why so many of the state’s highest-rated schools cluster in South Louisiana.